PanzerMagier, on 02 April 2013 - 02:24 AM, said:
It's canon for the er ppc to have no minimum range. but we've all seen pgi chuck that out of the window.
So let's look at the other reasons why Er ppc SHOULDN'T get a nerf.
A) They're already heat cumbersome, I guess light mech pilots wouldn't know that it takes a lot of fire discipline to manage them.
B ) They're hard to aim, much like all ballistics, if you're a scout and you get hit by ballistic weapons then you're not being a really good light mech pilot (that or the shooting pilot is a great shot and deserves to nail your tiny **** with an ac20 slug/ppc shot).
C)Light mechs are horribly overpowered at the moment, you're saying you want to make them even more overpowered?
No, erppc's should not be nerfed. Why? because if you nerf that into the ground then you might as well start nerfing ac cannons and lasers and go just make some arbitrary changes to just screw over the entire game and you know what, then you can just chuck away the whole off-set game. Since it will be ruined.
I take ER PPCs in my mechs over the PPC because I want to be able to still use a weapon in close range, I'll take the heat penalty in order to use it.
As far as other reasons:
1) TT rules and canon state that by the time ER PPC was created, the 90m distance was resolved, there is 300 year technology gap between the PPC and the ER PPC. The same can be said with the AC/5 and UAC/5, you can't really compare the two because one is a direct upgrade over the other using better technology.
2) If anything needs to change with the ER PPC, I would say that it and the ER Large Laser need a slight heat reduction due to the insane heat build up, but then again they are ER weapons; for the extra range, there will be extra heat, so I'm willing to overlook the heat for now.
3) As far as a minimum range, as far as what PanzerMagier and others have said hold a lot of validity, the reason pilots taking the ER PPC is for both close and long-range bombardment. Those that choose to take an ER PPC know that they can't fire it like crazy because of the heat build-up and good pilots know to use it sparingly. The ER PPC and it's ballistic equivalent, the A/C 10 were built for long range effectiveness, in order soften up enemy mechs as your team closed in, with that said, hitting mechs at closer range and at high speeds is no easy feat, as missing means unnecessary heat build up (or wasted ammo for ballistics).
4) ER PPCs by themselves are not game-breaking, a normal mech carrying one or two is not going to insta-win a match.
This game is suppose to be about tactics, if you see a mech with normal PPCs, you engage them within their 90m bubble, prevent them from using their weapons, if you see a mech with ER PPCs you use cover and flank them or engage them with your team. If the enemy mech is a good pilot, they'll know not to spam their shots as they will shutdown so getting shot by their ER PPC is not as worrisome, if they're a bad pilot, well, they'll shutdown from heat and their remains will be delivered to their loved ones, assuming there is anything left...